Bear hasn’t been seen swimming in Crater Lake for decades. Then one puts on a show

Visitors got lucky when they watched a black bear take a swim in Oregon’s Crater Lake — something that hasn’t been seen in decades.

The bear slid down a steep slope near Watchman Peak and jumped into the deep blue water , the Crater Lake National Park said in a Sept. 3 Facebook post. The sighting happened within the “past week.”

It paddled across Skell Channel to Wizard Island , a 763-foot cinder cone volcano that formed in Mount Mazama’s water-filled caldera after its eruption, park officials said.

We could bear-ly believe it! Something quite rare happened this past week at Crater Lake National Park: A black bear...

Posted by Crater Lake National Park on Tuesday, September 3, 2024

The bear then wandered the island for a couple of hours before returning to the caldera’s wall where it climbed up and left, rangers said.

Onlookers caught the animal on camera as it swam and reached the island’s shoreline.

A lake research crew also filmed the bear roaming around Wizard Island.

“It had been many decades since we had witnessed a bear swimming in Crater Lake, so it was a real treat for the few lucky folks who got to see it,” park officials said in the post.

There’s not a lot of food on the island, so park officials said they suspect that’s why the bear left.

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the U.S. with a depth of 1,943 feet, according to the National Park Service. It’s the 10th deepest lake in the world.

The lake formed after Mount Mazama erupted 7,700 years ago, officials said. The center portion of the volcano collapsed, creating a caldera with a diameter of 5 to 6 miles.

The caldera filled with water from rain and snow creating “one of the clearest lakes in the world ,” officials said.

Park visitors can take a boat tour around the lake or get dropped off at Wizard Island where they can swim, fish and explore , according to Explore Crater Lake.

Crater Lake National Park is in southwestern Oregon.

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